Welcome to Gaia! ::

O_O Wow. Where'd they all go? XD

Ooo~ That ghosty white gamma is handsome.

Yeah, it seems the pack has a scarily common case of NO TAILS going on. XD Maybe they got bitten off when they were pup-napped.

Dios: *has no idea what's wrong with everyone else, but lost his own tail before he had anything to do with the Bhood*

Avidimi probably accidentally bit the tip of his own tail off chasing it. He is derp enough to do that.

Heyyyy, so I've dragged myself back to SW and am here to rub Soren all over this thread to let folks know he's still alive. He'll be missing for a while after the whole fire-from-the-skies ordeal, but he'll make his way back given enough time.

Also, I want to say that I agree with Bombazine. A skull is nice, but sounds a bit cumbersome - and I'm willing to bet Soren would lose his somewhere. Everything attached to the idea of ritualized scarring just sounds so BHood. It's the permanence that really does it for me; a wolf can take off a skull (or a hood, for that matter), but once a very visible, very deliberate scar has been given, there's no way for them to hide their nature from other wolves they may come across.

That's just how I feel, though.

I totally get where you're coming from XD Though I think the same can be said for the skull helm - how was it crafted, and how are they keeping it on their heads? Can't all be balance, after all. The scarring would have to be big and fit at least a very basic pattern for it to be noticed, too. Tattoos, I feel, would be out of the question - I can't figure out how a wolf would manage to create one XD I've always felt that way about the hoods, to be honest. Either way, some liberties would have to be taken as far as technique goes - it's just my personal opinion that scarring is the most easily accessible.

Another thing is, I know of a few other wolves who wear skulls. Doesn't feel so special when others are doing it, too XP

I am a huge fan of the killing ritual, and would really like to see it implemented whether it is a hunt for a skull or not. It is a very 'coming-of-age' sort of thing, and can go so, so badly for a wolf who wasn't ready for it.

You have every right to defend your idea, and in fact, I really want to know everything you've got to say about it! Sway me to your side!

*waves at Shadow and Bomba* Good to see you both here wink

I see what all of y'all are saying about the scar vs skull thing. And I can see the benefits and flaws in both approaches:

-- The skull thing is easy because it's a cut-and-paste edit that can be dropped in, from a colorist perspective. It's not difficult for a colorist to drop one onto a wolf without having to actually get in and edit the wolf itself. That alone sways me heavily in that direction.

-- From an IC perspective, both a ritual hunt and a ritual scarification seem very in-character. Zarath will be the kind of alpha who very much honors ritual. He'd value the idea of a coming-of-age hunt very much -- "prove to me that you're serious about this" -- but he also sees the value in mutilation -- "Once you've joined us, you can never belong anywhere, and this is a symbol of your allegiance to me." I think that ultimately both symbols mean the same thing: Your initiation into the Brotherhood 2.0 is so complete and so traumatic that you can never belong anywhere else. Whatever the symbol, Zarath values the permanence of it. This is no scrap of cloth you inherit that can be buried. Even if you take off the skull, the act that it took to earn it can't be buried with it.

-- That said, as Shadow put it, there are a few other wolves out there with skulls (notably my lady Kaeerah, who says she was wearing skulls before they were cool). So it's not as instantly-identifiable/original.

One last idea: It's possible that both things exist -- a lineart edit bone jewelry type thing, AND an in-character mutilation that occurs.

Firdaws suggests that everyone in the pack gets castrated, because he's lonely being the lone eunuch.